


Time to Move On

by Yitzock



Category: Tokyo Mew Mew
Genre: Break Up, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Haircuts, Moving On, Reminiscing, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 00:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17213900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yitzock/pseuds/Yitzock
Summary: Years after the end of the Mew Project, Ichigo still lives with Masaya, but she is no longer happy. She decides to meet up with her old friends from when she was a Mew Mew.





	Time to Move On

**Author's Note:**

> While they're not used in official translations of the manga and anime, I'm using the characters civilian names in this story instead of those that are named after food.

Ichigo lay in bed awake, fiddling with the bell around her neck, despite Masaya’s soft breathing beside her. This had become frequent lately, though she could no longer remember how long ago it began. When she was done with school, she and Masaya got an apartment together that they could afford with the money from Masaya’s job at the zoo and her job as a restaurant hostess. It wasn’t much, but they had tried to make it a home.

But lately Ichigo had been searching for reasons not to come home after work. Usually, she would just go for walks. That afternoon, she had found herself walking on a road she hadn’t been on in a long time. When she saw the shape of the building, she realized she had walked without realizing it to the former site of Café Mew Mew.

The garish pink walls and heart-shaped windows had been removed, but the basic shape still remained. When the Mew Project had ended, Shirogane and Akasaka had renovated the property and sold it to a company that turned it into a much more stylish place. It had been years since she’d set foot anywhere near it and she’d barely spoken to any of her former Mew Mew team members.

The next morning after another restless night, she decided she would finally get back in touch with them. She needed her friends. Hoping that none of them had changed their numbers, she called them one by one. Luckily, they were all able to meet for lunch that day.

Zakuro and Minto arrived together, to Ichigo’s surprise. Zakuro was easy to recognize as she approached, since Ichigo had seen pictures of her in magazines modelling for various clothing companies, tall and slender as ever. Minto, on the other hand, she hadn’t seen since the Mew Mews broke up. While she was still short, she looked much more mature, her long hair now reaching her waist and curled to perfection.

Retasu arrived next, and while Ichigo wanted to ask right away about the ring on her finger, she held her tongue, not wanting to get too deep into conversation until they were all together.

“Sorry I’m late,” Bu-Ling said as she arrived in a bit of huff. She was much taller than she had been before, now a mature teenager.

“Its OK, Bu-Ling,” Ichigo replied, pulling out her chair for you. “I know you said you were busy.”

“Balancing high school and my job can be difficult,” Bu-Ling said, sitting down, “but it’s fun, too! And seeing my sisters able to have a good meal every night makes it all worth it.”

“What do you do now, Minto?” Bu-Ling asked. “I’ve seen Zakuro on TV, but I haven’t heard from you.”

“I’m part of the National Ballet of Tokyo now,” Minto said.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Ichigo exclaimed. “I definitely want to see one of your shows!”

“Me, too!” said Bu-Ling.

“Ryou and I went last week,” said Retasu. “Minto was wonderful.”

“Ryou? You mean Shirogane?” Ichigo asked.

Retasu nodded. “And after the show he proposed. I was so embarrassed that he did it in a public place, but he was so sweet and we’ve been living together anyway, so I had to say yes.” Retasu held up her hand to show them the ring.

“Isn’t it kind of weird being with someone from back then?” Ichigo couldn’t help but ask.

“We don’t talk about it very much” Retasu replied. “But because our relationship isn’t through the Mew Project anymore, we’ve learned a lot more about each other.”

Ichigo said nothing, feeling jealous that things were going so well for Retasu but not for herself.

“I wish I could get married…” Minto said sadly.

“I’m sure you’ll find the right guy one day,” Retasu said encouragingly.

“No, you misunderstand,” Minto said, looking around the restaurant before leaning in closer to the others and lowering her voice. “I’ve found someone, but we can’t get married. Not here in Japan, anyway. Remember my crush on Zakuro back in the day?”

They all nodded.

“Well,” she continued, “after I got over that, I realized that I didn’t like boys, only girls. I have a girlfriend now.”

“Is it Zakuro?” Ichigo asked bluntly. “You did arrive together.”

“Shh! Keep your voice down!” Minto scolded. “No. We’ve just been good friends since the Mew Mews. My girlfriend is in the ballet, too. Her name is Minami.”

“I’ve seen them together, they’re very cute,” Zakuro said. “What about you Ichigo? I remember when you were in love with Aoyama.”

“I do, too,” Ichigo replied, not realizing the implications of what she’d just said. “We’re still together. I know I should be happy that our relationship has lasted so long, but he’s my biggest worries these days. And hearing how all of you have moved on in your lives, I feel like I’m the only one who isn’t happy.”

“Well, it’s true, you’re the only one who doesn’t seem to have changed,” said Bu-Ling.

“What do you mean?” Ichigo asked.

“You’re still with Aoyama,” said Retasu.

“Yeah, so? You’re still with Ryou.”

“But we aren’t stuck in the time before,” Retasu said.

“But you’re still stuck in the past, Ichigo,” Zakuro said. “You still wear that bell he gave you when you were in middle school, and your hair is exactly the same except for the pigtails.”

Ichigo looked at her friends sitting around the table. Minto no longer had her hair in the two buns that were an everyday look for her years ago, Zakuro’s hair was still long but had changed with the latest fashion, Retasu’s hair was in a single braid instead of two and she looked much more confident than she had been in the past, and Bu-Ling had grown up and had grown her hair into a sensible bob.

“And you’re not happy, are you Ichigo?” asked Mint. “I could tell as soon as I saw you. You’re not bubbly like you have always been. Except for a few fleeting moments, you’ve seemed very down.”

“But it’s not like I can just forget what happened!” Ichigo exclaimed angrily. “The fact that Masaya and I survived to be together must mean something, right? With everything we’ve been through, it would be cruel to leave! And if we’re together, I’m not taking off a prized possession he gave me. Besides, the reason we were drawn together in the first place is because of the whole Mew Mew thing, and that was the biggest event of our lives! I can’t just throw it away! Surely I’m not the only one who still has her pendant!”

“Mine is in my jewelry box,” said Minto.

“Mine, too,” said Retasu.

“I keep mine in a pouch around my neck,” said Bu-Ling, taking the pouch out from under her top to show them.

“Mine is always with me, as well,” said Zakuro, opening her purse and showing them the pocket where it was stored. “We’re not asking you to forget, Ichigo. None of us could if you asked us. But you wanted us to meet because you’re troubled by your situation, right?”

“Well yes,” Ichigo said. “But I was hoping you’d just have some advice for me, or maybe meeting you would have given me some energy back after being alone with Masaya all along.”

“Well, if you want advice,” said Minto. “I think you know what we’re telling you. It’s time to move on.”

“You were always so harsh, Minto,” said Ichigo.

“I don’t think she’s being harsh,” said Retasu. “She’s just saying what we’re all thinking.”

“First thing’s first,” said Bu-Ling. “You’ve got to take that bell off.”

“No way,” said Ichigo.

“There’ll be time for that, Bu-Ling,” said Zakuro. “What you really need, Ichigo, is something that will help remind you that things have changed, that time has passed. We’re taking you to a salon after lunch.”

“But I’ve always looked like this!”

“You’re not a kid anymore, Ichigo,” said Retasu. “But you still look like you did when you were. I think it will help you feel like the adult you are.”

“Oh, all right…”

As they finished their meal, they reminisced about the time when they would be together almost every day. Zakuro mused about her regret for not joining the Mew Mews right away and trying to avoid them. She missed the friendships that they had formed. Ichigo thought so, too, and vowed that they would meet like this more often.

Ichigo slightly doubted that statement for a moment as they entered the hair salon.

 _If I hadn’t met up with you all, I wouldn't be in this mess,_ she thought. But as the five of them began looking through the magazines for hairstyles, she couldn’t help but start to have fun. They all watched as Ichigo made her final decision and watched as her past self was snipped away.

The four others looked on in awe as the stylist turned off her hair dryer and made the final touches on Ichigo’s new look. It was short, much shorter than any haircut she’d had before. She felt around her neck, now exposed. As she moved her head around to see the other angles, she noticed how much lighter she felt.

She looked over to her friends and nodded. She knew now that she was ready. She bid goodbye to her friends and headed back to her apartment to wait for Masaya to get home from work.

“I’m home!” she heard him say when he came through the door.

“I’m in the kitchen!” she called back to him from her chair at the kitchen table.

“Making a delicious dinner, I hope!”

He was smiling as he came around the corner, but that changed to surprise when he saw her.

“Do you like it?” Ichigo asked, trying not to seem too serious.

“Er…” Masaya said. “It’s different!”

“Sit down,” Ichigo said, gesturing to Masaya’s chair on the other side of the little table.

 “What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Masaya…” Ichigo murmured, suddenly at a loss for words despite rehearsing in her head over and over what she was going to say when she got to this moment. She remembered her friends and knew they had her back. The Mew Mews were always there for their leader.

“Masaya,” she began again. “I think we need to break up.”

“Why?” he asked. “We’re happy.”

“You might be,” Ichigo said, her voice beginning to quiver. “But I’m not. I haven’t been for a long time.”

“But what about all we’ve been through?”

“I know,” she said. “I understand that. Believe me, Masaya, I will never forget those times. But you’re part of my past, and I need to move on. We don’t really have that much in common except for those times when I was fighting as a Mew Mew. I was a child back then. I need to be an adult, now.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? Have you thought this through?”

“I have. It’s been keeping me awake at night. You haven’t seemed unhappy, and I’ve tried to make the best of our time together, but I don’t want to hide my sadness anymore.”

She paused, the tears welling up in her eyes. What she had to say next was the hardest part, but she had to do it. She wanted to be free of it weighing down on her day after day.

“I don’t love you anymore.”

Masaya looked hurt, but then his expression hardened.

“Well, if that’s how you feel…”

Ichigo got up abruptly and went over to her room. She emerged with two suitcases full of her belongings.

“Goodbye, Masaya,” she said as she passed by the kitchen. She reached to the back of her neck and pulled on one end of the ribbon to untie the knot. She placed the bell in Masaya’s hand and then went out the door.

She didn’t know whwere exactly she was going to go from there or what she would do. She felt the vastness of the city around her as she began walking through the street. She would stay with one of her friends for a while, then get a place of her own. She didn’t know where. Masaya was her first love and that was special. But his being first meant that there might be others after him. She didn’t know if she would fall in love again, or when. But she wouldn’t know until she lived her own life instead of being limited by her past with Masaya. She knew she had friends. And she knew she had a future. If she had fought for the future of the earth as a Mew Mew, it only made sense that she should have a future, too.


End file.
